Page 5

The memories flash by like a whirlwind of information that will seem to Amarithlumonarion as though they’re his own memories. The first time I stepped foot on the planet and let them all see me for who I am. How I told them, I had a plan to bring more women if they were able to make enough homes and find enough food. The few other conversations I’ve had with Ralleth before the storms came and stopped me from returning to the planet because of electrical interference. In less than fifty days, the tribe will be ready for fifty new humans to join them, and there will be room for more after that.

“Fifty humans every hundred days?” Amarithlumonarion asks.

“Currently, that’s the estimation of a healthy trickle for them. We may have to adjust when the electrical storms come because they do cause a danger to the humans and the inhabitants of the planet.”

“How many humans would that leave in the stadiums after they’re all sent?”

“Far too many. With how they’ve been reacting to the females being sent to the planet, I don’t predict more than the estimation of two thousand wanting to be sent anyway,”

It’s not that I want the majority of these women to perish. In fact, I’d love it if all of them wanted to come to planet 87.39.49 with the others. They could live long, healthy lives there if they could get over the part where the males look different and learn to live without the same amenities they might be used to. My estimation of two thousand wanting to leave is on the high end, though, and that’s with sending all of the orphaned children.

“Do you have any data to back up your numbers?”

I cycle through my memories for a recent survey I sent out to all of the subunits of Unit A to get a feel for how many women would be willing to leave if it meant being on a new planet with the possibility of mating with a different species. I was even able to get a visual sketch of what the inhabitants look like so the respondents had all the information they could need. Out of the thirteen thousand females currently being housed who are of the human age of adulthood, only fifteen hundred said they’d be willing to leave.

“And the remainder?” Amarithlumonarion asks.

“I’d recommend offering them sanctuary until their lives end or transferring them to one of the other units. There’s one just to the south of this continent where they’re having more success in sending larger quantities of females. Maybe we could work out a deal where the remainders are held in one unit until they die, and then we can leave this planet?”

I can hope and want for the collective to agree to house these creatures until they perish from natural causes. It’s more likely the collective will vote on eliminating the remaining humans from this unit as soon as I complete the transfer of females to planet 87.39.49.

Amarithlumonarion doesn’t respond with any negatives or positives to what I’ve said. It leads me to believe he thinks I’m being too optimistic with how I want the plan to go on the Earth side of things.

“If my plan goes through, I’d request to be the correspondent of planet 87.39.49,” I add when the silence has grown to an uncomfortable level.

Amarithlumonarion says nothing for a long moment, and I think he’s going to ask more about why I’d want to take over the care of a primitive planet. They’re considered jobs for those who lack the capability of having more depend on them. It’s not a job that many ask to take, especially not ones who are also offering species-saving plans to help other primitive species. If my plan works and saves the collective ten years of having to waste their time in this unit, I’ll be offered a promotion. Staying on as the planet’s babysitter will be frowned upon by many.

“I’ll recommend you for the position since the Hand who was sent there two Creators ago has been silent for some time now. So long as you’re taking the position for the correct reasons, there should be no issues.” Amarithlumonarion’s body begins to hum as he prepares to transport back to the ship he’s staying.

He begins to disappear as he’s transported back to his ship. I don’t know what causes me to ask, but I can’t help but blurt out, “What’s the correct reason?”

I’m not surprised when I don’t get a response from him. In fact, as soon as his body has fully disappeared from my lab, I’m back to going over the results of the females of Unit A12.

A few minutes pass when the elder calls out in my mind again. “A fated is a blessing. None would keep you from them.”

I grimace at the words because I know none of the others would keep me from Simone. No, they’d do the opposite. They’d force us onto one of the ships out in the planet’s atmosphere, where we’d spend most of our time in a single bedroom, attempting to create another mind for the collective.

When a fated is found, their sole purpose is to create more Hands. It’s why I’ve kept my relationship with Simone a secret, why I allowed her to go through the transport to planet 87.39.49. I hate every moment of being away from her. If I’d told the others I found my fated, I wouldn’t be able to help anyone else. Simone’s friends would be separated, the other women who want a chance at a new life wouldn’t get it, and planet 87.39.49 wouldn’t have a chance of creating a whole new species.

It’s why I’ve kept Simone a secret and why I’ll keep her a secret until I can find a way to sever the tie between the collective’s mind and mine.

3

Rallan

“Insufferable female!” I call out as soon as I step out of my room.

Nothing can be simple with Simone. I would not want it to be because she is very pleasing when she is upset or sassy or frustrated with me. It is one of the reasons I continue to call her an insufferable female because she huffs in the most delicious of ways. It’s the closest I will get to her making any sort of sound of passion around me, and I cannot be asked not to hear it.

“Don’t call me a fucking female!” Simone yells from right outside my home.

Of course, she is out on the porch, watching as the storms rage outside. She has done this every day, even after I have told her that it is dangerous. Does she care? I do not know, but it does not seem like she does at all.

“You are not a fucking female,” I grumble under my breath as I stand in the doorway right behind her. I think she stands thisway on purpose. She is still close enough to the doorway that I can feel her body’s warmth. I do not keep myself far from her. She could move if she wants, but she does not. “You have done no fucking as far as I can tell. I would have loved it if you did.”

My smile is wide as she turns to look up at me, one of her eyes twitching and her mouth agape in a fury that has my cock stiffening in an instant. I wish I could meet the male she shares a soul with already so I could thrash him for leaving her when she so obviously still cares for him. I know it is what keeps her from my bed because she would have been in it the first time we met if she trusted her soul.

I smile when I think about the first storms we weathered together. I found her naked in the trees near my brother’s tribe. She was alone, scared, and fragile. Of course, I protected her. I also learned that I wanted her in more ways than just companionship, even though her companionship is the best I have ever had. Yes, we bicker and pick at one another, but we are also close enough to have deeper conversations.